Transformers Animated: Battle for the Allspark
by Dark Maiden95
Summary: After the events of Human Error, the Autobots find a mortally wounded girl who must become a techno-organic to save her life. Soon she is dragged into the conflict with the Decepticons. Can she survive and help the Autobots find the rest of the Allspark fragments before the Decepticons do?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, readers! TheLegendaryCrystalWolf and I are going to take another stab at Battle for the Allspark, with some differences to the storyline. Let us know what you think!**

**This story is going to be AU in the fact that:**

**Starscream is still a Decepticon (though still not a big fan of Megatron)**

**Megatron and Starscream are still on Earth and causing trouble; Blitzwing and Lugnut were captured, though**

**Some other things that you will find out soon enough**

**Enjoy!**

**~Dark Maiden95**

~*Chapter One: Soundless Terror*~

Rays of sunlight pierced through the half open blinds as the morning slowly wore on, illuminating the small bedroom. It was a simple room; hardwood floors, a black shag area rug, drawers filled with clothing off to one side, and a decent-sized bed. A few posters adorned the ivory walls as well. Soon, the bed's occupant, sixteen-year-old Elena Rae Saunders, began to stir in tiny fits as she gradually woke up. Cracking open her emerald-green eyes, Elena closed them tightly again when beams of sunlight stabbed at her eyes. Finally, after several moments, she gathered the courage to open her eyes and sit up.

Glancing at the nightstand, Elena saw that her digital clock read 8:30 AM. Aunt Rosa was probably long gone at work by now. The girl sighed; even on Christmas, her aunt wouldn't take a break from work and spend some time with her. Feeling her stomach rumble, Elena climbed out of bed to make some breakfast. If she was lucky, Aunt Rosa would come home tonight and have a Christmas present for her. Elena had had a very hard time selecting one for her, even with Professor Sumdac's help. The professor had been very good friends with Rosa for years and was almost like an uncle to Elena. But lately, Rosa had been so wrapped up with work that she hardly had time for either one of them.

Elena smiled to herself when she checked her appearance in the mirror. Her favorite outfit could brighten any day; a deep green jacket that matched her eyes perfectly, a yellow tank top with a small V-neck, dark blue jeans, and black and white checkered tennis shoes. For some finishing touches, Elena donned two earrings with tiny sapphires dangling from small gold chains, and a matching necklace with one large sapphire. Her flaming red hair, which stretched halfway down her back, had been pulled into a half-ponytail. The sunlight flickered to the teen's face again and she walked over to her bedroom window. The streets of Detroit were always a great sight to see, especially on Christmas Day. The snow falling, people out and about going to parties and singing carols (and the occasional last second Christmas shopper), and the enormous Christmas tree in the middle of the park.

When Elena lifted the blinds from her window, she recoiled in confusion; the streets were completely bare. No carolers or shoppers, not even any cars. Elena stared blankly out the window, scanning for any signs of life. Nothing. Something was very wrong.

Turning to leave the room and investigate the condo, Elena was halted in her tracks, jumping at the sight. As the surprise waned, the redhead scowled at the sight: a Soundwave toy. The tiny machine swayed back and forth, appearing to try harder as the girl stared in confusion. The glare deepened on the ginger's face when Elena approached the Soundwave toy and stomped down hard several times, making sure it was completely destroyed. She stared thoughtfully at the remains of the possessed dancer...had the toy been trying to play music? Having been deaf since birth, there was no way the girl could have known what kind of tunes that evil toy was dancing to. More importantly, though, how had it gotten into her room? Elena knew neither Professor Sumdac nor Aunt Rosa would have gotten her a Soundwave toy for Christmas since she couldn't hear its famous music. Looking around the room once more to make sure there were no more evil dancing dolls, Elena slipped her blue winter coat on and headed for the door. She had to find the Autobots, only they would be able to get to the bottom of this.

~.~.~.~.~

Elena whirled around to check her surroundings for what felt like the millionth time. Maybe she was just being paranoid, but she just couldn't shake the feeling that someone was following her. Her ears had been rendered useless when she was born, leaving her that much more vulnerable to a surprise attack. Seeing no one around, Elena pressed on, still not convinced she was alone. Glancing at the street around her, Elena was confused and a little scared that there was still no one out.

As her feet crunched through the deep snow, Elena paused. Something was off, way off. Slowly turning around, some low moans escaped the teen's throat, asking who was there. When her stalker(s?) didn't reveal themselves, Elena's green eyes darted in all directions, searching for a stick, a fallen street sign, anything she could use to defend herself with if she needed to. After several seconds of searching, her gaze landed on a flattened stop sign across the street. Without wasting a second, the redhead hurried over and snatched it up, looking around once more. This time, she did see someone – five someones – approaching down the street.

The Autobots.

Elena's heart leapt into her throat, overflowing with joy and hope as she ran as fast as she could towards them. As she got closer, she halted in her tracks; something was very wrong. Her eyes trailed up their bodies and widened in horror as they stopped walking. All five of them were wearing deadly glowers and Elena found ten blood-red optics piercing right through her soul. Frozen solid in terror and confusion, Elena noticed a familiar figure hovering behind the brainwashed Autobots – Soundwave.

"Impossible! This organic is immune to the music! She must be destroyed as well."

Strumming the strings of his wicked-looking guitar, Elena watched as Bumblebee took a step towards her, charging his stinger. Before the red-haired organic could blink, the yellow Autobot fired. Instincts took over and Elena swung the stop sign in her hand like a baseball bat, sending the plasma blast right back at Bumblebee. The traitorous ball of energy hit the bot square in the shoulder, making him recoil in pain. Glancing at her makeshift weapon in surprise, a look of determination crossed the deaf girl's face as she crouched into a battle stance.

Prowl was the next one to attack. He reached into his chest plates and flung his shurikens at Elena. She swung the stop sign almost blindly in a feeble attempt to keep up with the stars' blinding speed, dodging all the while. Elena winced when she felt one of the shurikens nick her waist, but it only left a small cut, so she returned her attention to her Autobot foes.

Looking up just in time to see Bulkhead throw his giant wrecking ball, Elena dove out of the way just moments before it hurled through the air. As she stood up, Elena saw Soundwave run his hand down his guitar again; this time all five Autobots readied their respective weapons and charged for the girl. Scrambling back quickly, Elena surveyed the situation. There was no way on Earth that she would be able to take on all five Autobots at once. Her only choice was to repel them long enough to flee to safety.

Swinging her stop sign as fast as its weight would allow her, Elena managed to reflect most of Prowl and Bumblebee's projectile attacks, dodging the others and backing up all the while. Ratchet had used his giant magnets to seize control of Bulkhead's wrecking ball and threw it in the teen's direction. She leapt out of its path again and hurried to her feet. Whirling around, Elena was halted from escaping before she'd even taken a step.

There was Optimus Prime. His crimson optics glared down at the red-haired girl with a look that could burn a hole through steel. Before Elena had time to snap out of her fearful trance, the Autobot leader raised his Ion Axe and sliced into the girl's body.

The stop sign slipped from Elena's fingers and clattered onto the snowy cement. An ear-splitting shriek of agony escaped Elena's throat as the girl collapsed onto the ground, clutching her wounded torso. Terror welled up inside the redhead as she observed the snow around her quickly turning scarlet. Out of the corner of her eye, Elena saw Optimus raising his axe again. With one last jolt of adrenaline, the teen rolled out of the weapon's range and climbed to her feet. In her dizzied panic, the redhead clumsily darted down a nearby alleyway, her knees buckling again when she reached the end. A trail of blood dotted the snow behind her, and a large red puddle was forming beneath her.

"Leave the organic," Soundwave commanded when the Autobots moved to approach the alley, "she will perish soon anyhow." With that, he hearded his brainwashed army further down the road. On one of the rooftops behind them, a small figure fussed with a security camera before running off in the opposite direction.

Tears streamed down Elena's face as she hugged herself in a vain attempt to suppress the excruciating pain. Daring to look down, she saw that her entire front had been stained in the crimson liquid. Her breathing was heavily labored as well.

Elena wasn't sure if she was terrified or relieved when her vision began to blur. As her vision slowly faded, memories flashed through the ginger's mind at warp speed: memories of Aunt Rosa before she became the workaholic she was now; Professor Sumdac teaching her sign language at age three, and later teaching her how to read; playing with his daughter Sari a few times when they were younger.

As the memories dissolved from her mind, Elena's world gradually faded to a black oblivion. She wasn't even aware of the giant figure looming over her.

_Aunt Rosa...Professor Isaac...goodbye. _

~.~.~.~.~

Sari smiled with satisfaction as she watched the Substitute Autobots leave. She was just glad to have her family back.

"Well," she sighed, "What do you guys say we go home and have that party?"

"Sounds good to me," Bumblebee nodded, "after all that time being Soundwave's yes-man, I could use some fun!"

"Yeah," Bulkhead concurred, "I won't let Soundwave ruin my Christmas!"

"Let's go," Optimus smiled, "I'm sure we could all use a little holiday cheer right now. Transform and roll out!"

As the bots morphed into their respective vehicle modes, something down the street caught Sari's eye. There was something in the snow...

"Hop in, Sari," Bumblebee said cheerfully as he opened his passenger door.

"One minute." Sari closed Bumblebee's door and walked down the sidewalk, gasping loudly when she saw a good-sized puddle of blood. Looking away, her eyes followed the red trail down the alleyway.

"What's Sari doing," Bulkhead asked as he watched his techno-organic friend walk cautiously down the alleyway.

"Dunno," Bumblebee replied, "I think she went to check on something."

The Autobots nearly jumped out of their armor when a blood-curdling scream pierced through the air.

"Sari!" In less than an instant, the Autobots rocketed to the alleyway as Bumblebee transformed and rushed over to his smaller friend.

"Sari, what's wr..." Kneeling down, Bumblebee followed Sari's horrified gaze to the form of a teenage girl lying motionless in a small pool of blood. "Holy Primus! Ratchet, get over here!"

In seconds, the aged medic was hovering over the girl as well. It was hard to miss the horror in his optics as he gently scooped her into his servo, examining her hastily.

"She's still alive," he barked, "but she doesn't have much time! We have to get her back to base _now!_" Without waiting for the younger bots, Ratchet transformed carefully around his unconscious patient, placing her on the gurney in the back of his ambulance form.

"_Wait, doc bot,"_ Bulkhead cried through the comm. link, _"shouldn't we take her to a hospital?"_

"There's no time," Ratchet shouted back, "she's lost a lot of blood already and the nearest hospital is halfway across town! She'd never make it!"

Ratchet drove through Detroit as fast as his vehicle mode would allow, but it still felt like ages before Autobot headquarters came into view. As the garage door opened, the medic rocketed through the doorway and didn't stop until he'd reached the med bay. Carefully laying the girl on the berth in the center of the room, Ratchet carefully unbuttoned and removed her ruined coat, quickly discovering that it wasn't the only piece of clothing she would need to replace. Moving the pieces of her torn clothes apart, Ratchet examined the entire wound carefully, almost sickened by how long and deep it stretched.

How in the name of Primus _and_ the Allspark was this girl still alive?

Shaking his head, Ratchet attached an IV with an anesthetic to his patient's arm to ensure that she wouldn't wake up in the middle of the procedure. No human surgery would save this girl now. He prepared his supplies, praying that he wasn't already too late.

~.~.~.~.~

A few miles outside of Detroit, a figure rocketed through the night sky, carried by her silver jet pack. If one looked closely enough, one could see two crimson eyes glowing in the darkness.

_Oh, boy,_ she smirked, _Dad's going to _love_ this!_

Before long, the figure spotted the cave entrance on top of the mountain. Moonlight filtered into the giant room, illuminating her as she landed. Jet black hair stretched down the sixteen-year-old girl's back, messy from the flight. She was clothed in a navy sweatshirt, unzipped to reveal a magenta tank top underneath with a V-neck. The girl also donned blue jeans and black and white tennis shoes. A ruby hung around the teen's neck and dozens of small diamonds dangled from chains on her earlobes.

The rest of the room was pitch dark, save for two glowing blood-red optics.

"Ah, Rina," a deep, gravelly voice sighed with pleasure, "back from your little journey, I see." Rina looked up as Megatron, leader of the Decepticons, stepped out from the shadows and lowered his servo to her level.

"You're gonna love what I got today, Dad," Rina snickered as she stepped onto the offered servo and jumped onto Megatron's shoulder, dropping the tape into his other hand.

"Ah, yes. Laserbeak returned with Soundwave a short while before you arrived," her father replied. "The girl is dead, I presume?"

"Dead as a doornail," Rina replied with confidence. "There's no way a pathetic human could have survived something like that."

"Hmph." Megatron snickered in satisfaction. "Very good. Now we must focus on finding Blitzwing and Lugnut."

~.~.~.~.~

_Ugh...huh? No way. There is no way I can possibly still be alive._

As her eyes began to crack open, Elena lay still on the berth as she came to grips with her situation. Slowly scanning the room, she finally realized that, yes, she was indeed still alive. But...why did she feel so strange? Her eyesight was a lot clearer than she remembered it being before, and...was that beeping she heard?

_Wait...I can_ hear?!_ How?!_ Bolting upright, Elena discovered that she was in some kind of laboratory, but everything was far too big for a human to use. She wasn't strapped down, or hooked up to anything. Her arms and legs felt kind of stiff as well. Forcing herself to remain calm, Elena remained on the berth as she tried to formulate an escape plan.

_Okay. If you can just figure out a way to climb down from this giant table..._

The sound of a door opening stopped Elena from planning any further. Freezing in fear, the teen watched as Ratchet entered the med bay.

"Oh, you're awake!" It was hard to detect the relief in his voice, but it was there. "We were..." he cut himself off when he saw Elena's terrified face. "It's fine, kid. We're not gonna hurt you." He raised his servos in surrender and approached the berth.

"Stop right there!" The medic froze in his tracks as the patient screeched out the order. Seconds later, she placed a palm to her mouth, as though shocked that she'd just spoken.

"Look, kid, you're safe," Ratchet tried again, "no one's gonna..."

"I said stay away!" The redhead bolted to her feet and crouched into a defensive stance, looking down when she felt something slide out of her arms. "Wait...what..."

"Calm down, I'll explain every..."

"What did you do to me?!" Elena shouted, pointing the two neon green blades at Ratchet. "Why do I have swords in my arms?!"

Before Ratchet had a chance to answer, the med bay door swung open again, and the rest of the Autobots filed in.

"Ratchet, what's going on in here," Optimus demanded, not noticing that Elena was staring right at him.

Terror was written all over the teenager's face as images of Optimus nearly slicing her in half rushed through her mind.

"Hey, shh! It's okay," another girl's voice entered Elena's ears and she exited the flashback to see Sari holding her upper arms gently. "These are the Autobots. They're here to help you. In fact, Ratchet here saved your life."

"W-what?"

Now completely baffled, Elena looked past Sari at the five Cybertronians. Studying them more carefully, she could clearly see that all of their optics were a bright cyan once again. There was no trace of malice or violence, either. Sari and Ratchet visibly relaxed when they saw that Elena was calming down.

"Now, kid," Ratchet calmly addressed, "in order to save your life, I had to turn you into a techno-organic. That means you're part Cybertronian now – part robot."

Elena's eyes widened at this. Ratchet was surprised and more than a little relieved that she didn't lose her cool again.

"Your organic body was too badly damaged to salvage, I had no choice." Ratchet looked down at the green-eyed cyborg with regret.

"It's fine," Elena shook her head, a smile forming on her face. "I'm just grateful I'm alive at all, really. And I can't thank you enough for restoring my hearing."

"What? You mean you couldn't hear before," Bumblebee asked, a bit shocked. Elena shook her head.

"No. I've been deaf since I was born. I don't know how it happened, but this is the first time I've ever heard anything." She didn't add that it was her first time speaking any intelligible words, as well. It was a mystery to her how she'd learned, but she could worry about that later.

"That would mean that Soundwave couldn't control her like the other humans," Prowl deduced. "The music can't control someone who can't hear it, after all."

"Kid, mind tellin' us who did that to you," Ratchet requested, pointing to Elena's bloodstained clothes.

Elena eyed the Autobots thoughtfully, unsure how to word her answer. Her seafoam green optics lingered on Optimus for several long moments. Sighing deeply, she faced Ratchet.

"Soundwave," she answered. "Soundwave discovered that I was immune to his music and had you all attack me. When none of you managed to hurt me, he snatched Optimus's axe and slashed me with it."

"I see," Ratchet grumbled angrily as Bumblebee and Bulkhead growled angrily to each other. Prowl's expression was tough to read, and Optimus just looked ashamed. "Well, kid, what's your name?"

"Elena Saunders."

"All right, Elena," Ratchet continued, "I'm gonna need to keep you here for a couple of weeks while your body gets used to the Cybertronian technology. You got a mom or dad we need to talk to?"

Elena's face fell and she looked away with a glare. "No, just my aunt. There's no need to call her."

"But won't she notice if you're gone for a few weeks," Bulkhead asked, dumbfounded.

"I doubt it, she spends all her time at work, anyway."

"Okay, then. You need to get some rest now, I'll be back to check on you later."

Elena sat back down on the berth, watching everyone file out of the med bay. Lying down on her back, she was fast asleep before she even realized it.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

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	2. Chapter 2

~*Chapter Two: Surprise Mission*~

Megatron stood impatiently in the main room of the Decepticons' hideout; it had been hours since he'd sent Starscream into Detroit to find the Autobots' headquarters, and he was getting tired of waiting. He'd generously given the traitorous Seeker a second chance after he'd tried to assassinate Megatron, and this was how he repaid his merciful leader? The roar of jet engines finally sounded outside the cave, followed shortly by the magenta Decepticon entering the room.

"Starscream," Megatron addressed, not quite keeping the anger out of his voice, "did you find the location of the Autobots' headquarters?"

"No, my liege," Starscream shook his head with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, "however..."

"Aw, Screamer," the voice of a teenage girl entered Starscream's audio receptors. Flinching angrily, his red optics traveled up to find Rina sitting on top of a slab of rock near the cave's ceiling, "Dad asked you to do one little thing, and you can't seem to do it." A satisfied smirk spread across Rina's face when Starscream began to twitch with agitation; he was just so fun to mess with.

"Watch your vocal processor, filthy organic," he shot back, pointing threateningly at the girl, "or I'll..."

"That's _techno-organic_ to you!"

"Techno or not, you can still be crushed under my pede as easily as the rest of them! It would be so easy to make it look like an accident, as well."

"Why you...!"

"Enough," Megatron thundered, silencing both of the quarreling Cybertronians. The Decepticon warlord heaved a sigh and rested his face in his servo as he tried to calm himself down. When he succeeded, Megatron turned back to Starscream.

"Starscream, did you have anything to report aside from your miserable failure?"

The magenta mech glared at his leader before answering. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I did, my liege." Reaching into the cockpit on his chest, Starscream pulled out a small shard. It was difficult to know if the object was white or light blue, as its glow was almost blinding in the dark room.

Both Megatron and his daughter gasped in utter shock. The silver tyrant approached his second in command and plucked the shard from his digits. As he examined it, a wicked grin slowly graced his faceplates.

"This is perfect," Megatron purred maliciously, "this is a fragment of the Allspark! If we can assemble the rest of the shards, we can destroy the Autobots once and for all – and Cybertron shall be ours once more!"

~.~.~.~.~

Optimus sighed quietly to himself as he watched Bulkhead, Sari, and Professor Sumdac work on the space bridge. Most of the other Autobots were out patrolling the city, and Elena had been asleep in Sari's room for some time, so it was very quiet around Sumdac Tower. For the moment, at least. Bulkhead and Professor Sumdac had spent at least half the time bickering instead of working. Optimus hadn't understood any of it, making it that much more irritating when they were arguing.

"I want to commend you both on building this space bridge in record time," he praised, "so, how long until we're operational?"

"We would already be operational if _someone_ had bothered to recalibrate the transwarp field sequences," Professor Sumdac replied loudly and glared at Bulkhead, who was deliberately busying himself.

Optimus inwardly groaned.

"We wouldn't have to recalibrate if _someone_ could accept the fact that his calculations for the transwarp field sequences are wrong!"

"Well, if _two someones_ had let me help like I offered, we could have got it right the first time," Sari cried in frustration.

"Optimus, what's going on? What's everybody arguing about?"

The Autobot leader looked down in surprise at the voice's owner.

"Oh Elena, you're awake. We're trying to build a space bridge but seems like this is getting us nowhere." Optimus sighed as he stood and watched the trio bicker.

"Uh no offense Sari but uh I don't think there's that much you can do to help without your key." Bulkhead retorted.

"Even if you had it, you don't even have a background in astrophysics and quantum-electrodynamics." Mr. Sumdac added as he turned to look at Sari.

"Yeah, even I didn't pick out my space bridge savvy over night." Bulkhead agreed.

Elena watched with curiosity as the trio conversed.

"Let's put that savvy to work. There's only a matter of time before the Decepticons infiltrate the Autobot council on Cybertron," Optimus enlightened seriously. "We need to find them before that happens."

Mr. Sumdac sighed. "Fine. I'll just recalibrate the sequences myself." He gave Bulkhead a glare.

"Not before I do the calculations myself." Bulkhead retorted.

"You think that I cannot isolate the transwarp frequency barrier?!"

As Bulkhead and Mr. Sumdac bickered, Sari leaned against the railing, her arms folded across her chest with a frown lacing her lips and her nose scrunched up in dismay.

"I'm just saying..." Bulkhead intercepted. "You don't have the same experience as me."

Sari hatched an idea and jumped down from the elevator and rushed over to the mega computer. Elena saw this and decided to walk up to Sari, curious to know what she was up to.

"Hey Sari, what are you doing," She asked curiously.

Sari heard Elena and smiled. "Check this out."

Elena leaned in to have a closer look as she saw Sari's fingers rapidly moving around the keyboard. Her electric blue eyes closed as she concentrated and before she knew it, her eyes reopened and her fingers stretched out, moving on their own. The mega computer screen lit up and was ready for use.

Elena seemed quite shocked as Sari was able to get the computer up and ready. Sari turned to the bickering duo. "Guys," she called, "I fixed it!" But the two didn't seem to hear.

"I was under great stress." Sumdac countered.

"Guys! It's done!" Sari called again, louder.

"Well that's my point!" Bulkhead snapped.

"Guys!" Sari yelled out, finally getting their attention.

"What?!"

Sari rolled her eyes. "Now that I have your attention..." Sari pressed a button and Optimus's head turned in the direction of the space bridge which sparked and was a blue ball. Elena looked up as well and was impressed.

"Wow, that's a space bridge?" She asked in awe.

Optimus then turned to Sari and asked, "Sari how did you know what to do?"

"I dunno," was Sari's reply. "I just kind of...did." She shrugged. As the Autobots exchanged skeptical looks with Sumdac, Elena turned to Sari.

"That was so cool, what you did with your fingers!"

"It was nothing, really," Sari smiled, a little amused at her fellow cyborg's enthusiasm. "Want me to show you?"

~.~.~.~.~

Meanwhile, in the far corners of the galaxy, a large blue spaceship traveled through the darkness of outer space.

"It's a very simple question," a male voice sneered impatiently inside the ship, "something even your limited circuits should be able to compute."

Striding down the ship's brig, Sentinel Prime glared at the numerous Decepticon prisoners aboard the ship. Pointing his bright blue sword at the nearest hostage, he shouted again, "where are the Decepticon coordinates to detect the space bridges? I want names, I want locations!"

A series of shouts tried to escape the Decepticon's vocal processor, but all were strangled by the metallic mask over his face.

"Got something to say, Lug-nit," Sentinel smirked, raising an odd-looking remote. A distinct beep was heard and Lugnut's mask was lowered from his mouth.

"Tell this Autobot scum nothing," he barked to his fellow Decepticon captives, "Megatron cannot be stopped! Megatron will rise again!" Before he could shout anymore praise to his master, Lugnut's face mask readjusted itself when Sentinel pressed the button again.

"Oh, just give it up, already," the blue Autobot sighed.

"_Dig it, S.P.,"_ Jazz's voice rang through the comm. system, _"Big wigs from the home turf on the hold for ya!"_

Without wasting a second, Sentinel entered the cockpit of the ship and sat down, flicking a switch on his armrest. The monitors above his head flickered to life.

"Greetings, Sentinel Prime," the monotone voice of a red Autobot was heard, "we are contacting you because the council has decided to break the news of the attack on Ultra Magnus to all of Cybertron."

"Bad idea, Perceptor," Sentinel disagreed, sounding a little worried, "just, uh...keep it quiet until I get back there and take control."

"These are decisions that must be made by the entire council," Perceptor replied.

"And your 'taking control' is especially premature, since Ultra Magnus is still online." Sentinel's attention was drawn to the older mech beside Perceptor. "Albeit...on spark support," he finished with a sorrowful tone.

"With all due respect, Alpha Trion," the younger Prime retorted, "the council should concern itself with more important matters, like beefing up security for the Decepticon prisoners that – ahem – _I_ captured."

"I thought that was Prowl," Cliffjumper said with a smirk from the smaller monitor. Sentinel ignored the crimson horned mech and continued.

"Not to mention, Shockwave is still at large and running around with Ultra Magnus's hammer. What exactly is the council doing about that?"

"Tread carefully, Sentinel Prime," Alpha Trion warned, glaring dangerously at the younger mech, "the Autobots will not take kindly to your muscling in on the council!"

The monitors fizzled offline seconds later.

"Those bureaucratobots couldn't find their own diodes with a bitmap and a homing beacon! I gotta get back there before it all falls apart." Sentinel rose from his chair and looked directly at Jazz. "Bring the ship to full power!"

The silver Autobot whirled around from the controls. "You jivin' me?! We'll burn through all our energon!"

"Just do as you're told, _Autobot!"_ Sentinel glared angrily at Jazz, leaning close to his face. "And the next time you fail to address me as 'sir' or 'commander', you will find yourself in the brig with the Decepticons! Is that clear?!" Before Jazz had time to answer, Sentinel pressed the button on his comm. link. "Jetfire, Jetstorm! To the bridge!"

In seconds, the brightly colored twins rushed into the room.

"Bot your posts," Sentinel barked, "Jetfire, maintain this heading! Jetstorm, watch the energon levels!"

"Through that mess," Jazz asked with disbelief, pointing out the window at a giant energy cloud, earning an exasperated glare from the blue-and-orange mech, "uh, _commander sir?"_

"It's the fastest way to Cybertron," Sentinel replied, sitting down once more. Within minutes, the ship was violently shaking and sparking.

"This is a bad scene," Jazz cried, "there's got to be a better way home..._sir!"_

"Full energon ahead," Sentinel insisted in a strained voice. As the speed was increased, the ship rocked harder and the sparks became much more powerful.

Back in the brig, one of the Decepticons was struck by a bolt of energy. As the energy flowed through his system, Swindle morphed into bipedal mode, glancing happily at his fellow prisoners. He stretched his arms and said merrily, "I needed that. Oh my, my what a golden opportunity."

He turned to Lugnut and with a few twists of his wrist, he was able to get the metallic mask off his faceplates.

"The Autobot fools will pay for their insolence," was the first thing that came out of Lugnut's vocal processor. "Remove these stacious cuffs at once," he ordered Swindle.

"All in good time," Swindle mused. "First we need to discuss compensation. You get freedom, but what do I get?" He came face-to-face with Lugnut with a smug smirk on his faceplates. "See where I'm going here?"

"The honor of serving Megatron should be reward enough," Lugnut growled.

Swindle's grape-colored optics widened and rejoiced. "Megatron?! Why didn't you say so? He's my number one customer!"

He began scrounging around his middle section and found the requested item needed. He took it out and with a press of the button, the cuffs that were tightly gripping the Decepticon's wrists became unlocked and free from it's bind.

"Now let's see about you getting re-armed." Swindle said. "It's been stellar cycles but I never forget a weapon."

He handed each a Decepticon a weapon.

"Now naturally everything comes with a million solar cycle warranty including battle damage of course."

"May I just say what an admirer I am of the noble arms dealing profession," Sunstorm gushed as Hothead Blitzwing took a stance.

"Enough talk," Blitzwing chimed in angrily. "Let's kick some Autobot skin plate! Yeah!"

"Oh, I would _never_ do that," Ramjet sneered innocently.

"In the glorious name of Megatron, revenge shall be ours!" Lugnut exclaimed.

~.~.~.~.~

"Great! Now this time, try stretching your hand as much as you can."

Elena obeyed Sari's command and her optics widened at the sight; the Cybertronian circuitry under her fingers had been exposed, though the flesh was still visible. Her hand had grown larger and her fingers were a lot longer in this form.

"That is so cool," she laughed as her hand returned to normal.

Bulkhead, Optimus, and Sumdac watched the two cyborgs and smiled at Elena's reaction. She was like a child with a brand new toy. Sari had loaned her a set of her own clothes (that were remarkably similar to Elena's ruined outfit) until Elena could return home and shop for more herself. But the lighthearted scene was abruptly ended when Optimus heard something through his comm. link.

"Odd," he mused, pressing a digit to his audio receptor," I'm getting an embedded message on the emergency subfrequency."

"Run it through the filter, boss bot," Bulkhead instructed. A cable shot out of Optimus's wrist and latched itself to a port.

"_Broken lance! Repeat, broken lance!"_

"'Broken lance'," Sari asked in confusion.

"It's an old code from our academy days," Optimus explained, "Sentinel only used it when he was about to get caught doing something he shouldn't."

"Like what, exactly," Elena asked with an eyebrow arched. Optimus shot her an amused smirk for a split second before he turned serious again.

"Sentinel called you for help? He must _really_ be in trouble." It was hard to miss the surprise and concern in Bulkhead's voice.

"We've gotta get me on that Elite Guard flagship," Optimus stated grimly.

"We could try the space bridge," Sumdac began, "but we don't know how to link the transwarp to the ship's location."

"Wait a minute," Bulkhead cut in, "I'm picking up traces of a transwarp field on the ship. A kind I've never seen before."

"Can you lock our space bridge on to it?" Hope rose within Optimus.

"I can," Sari smiled confidentally.

"But Sari, you've never done this before," Sumdac cried.

"You can only get lucky once, kiddo," Bulkhead admitted. Sari shook her head.

"It wasn't luck before. It was...something else." Grinning as she extended her fingers, everyone watched in awe as Sari's fingers danced across the keyboard as though she had been working on space bridges for stellar cycles. "I'm locked on the transwarp, it's active!"

"Can you get me through," Optimus asked.

"I think so," Bulkhead nodded, with worry in his voice, "I'm just not sure we can bring you back."

"Do it," the red-and-blue Prime ordered without hesitation. He started towards the giant elevator when he was stopped by a voice.

"Hey, Optimus," Elena called, running up to him, "can I come along? It'd be really interesting to meet some new Autobots and you might need some backup."

The Autobot leader almost chuckled at the request. "Sorry, Elena, but you'd better stay here. You're still recovering from surgery and this could get really dangerous; you've never faced Decepticons before." When the teen shot him a look, Optimus corrected himself. "I mean in real battle. Besides, Ratchet would have my processor if I let you come with me." It stung a little to see the disappoinment in her optics, but Elena quickly shook it off.

"That's okay, I understand. Good luck!"

Optimus smiled and nodded at the girl before running into the elevator as Elena eyed him with determination and followed. The elevator ascended to a giant glowing blue orb. Walking up to the ball of light, Optimus leapt into it, completely oblivious to his passenger's presence.

~.~.~.~.~

"What on the fifth moon of Pz-Zazz?!"

Swindle looked down at his abdomen in shock as it began to pulsate. Within seconds, a blue arm reached out and pressed against his faceplates. Everyone could only watch as Optimus Prime exited Swindle's chestplates and launched himself across the room, axe at the ready. Knocking over Blitzwing and Sunstorm, Optimus took in his opponents.

"Traitor," Lugnut screamed, hauling Swindle to his pedes, "how dare you collaborate with Autobots!"

"Collaborate, my actuator," the brown mech scoffed in reply, pointing to his stomach," this is a private transwarp to my own personal storage dimension, _mister!"_

"Optimus, attack," Sentinel shouted from his cell, "what are you waiting for?!"

"Better odds," Optimus replied, transforming into a fire truck. As Sentinel shouted after the red Prime, three Decepticons gave chase. Lugnut sighed in frustration.

"Stay here and guard the prisoners," he barked, "I shall deal with this myself." Hurrying down the hallway after his comrades, Lugnut caught up just in time to see Optimus enter an elevator, his trailer lying a few feet away.

"He went up here!"

Icy Blitzwing approached the elevator and rested his servo on the doors. "Schematics show zhat zhis elevator leads only the the energon storage chamber."

"The fool! He's trapped himself!" Lugnut's single crimson optic glowed with excitement, when a muffled voice, rang through the room.

"Optimus, no!"

"Hm?" The Decepticons scanned the room thoroughly as Blitzwing's optics fell on Optimus's abandoned trailer. "I zhought I heard somezhing." Blitzwing calmly strode over to the trailer and tore the ceiling off. Icy was instantly shoved aside by Random as he reached inside.

"Ooh, lookie here! A stowaway!" Random cackled happily as he snatched the fearful Elena into his servo.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

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